Amsterdam’s Red light district
A Dutch enclave is transforming from fleshpot to fashion hub. Boyd Farrow hangs up his raincoat
 Many of the swivelheaded businessmen, kebab-warmed stag parties, and lenstraining Japanese tourists who have made a beeline for Amsterdam’s red light district since 19 January have had a rude awakening. Instead of displaying near-naked working girls, many of the neon-framed windows along Oude zijdesachterburgwal have been showcasing designer clothes, jewellery and accessories. This has started to draw a hipper, younger crowd to an area that the locals have pretty much avoided since the first cabin-fevered sailors swaggered into the city’s harbour.
The Red Light Fashion Amsterdam Project (RLFA) – which, is intended originally to be a 12-month experiment – marks the first step in the city council’s ambitious programme to turn the historic district, as well as the adjoining Damrak and Rokin thoroughfares, into “a bustling cultural habitat, attracting fresh visitors to a hotspot of creativity”. Galvanised by the prospect of the city’s new €1.5bn metro line opening in 2012, the council’s two-pronged plan involves buying neglected buildings and reselling them to commercial developers while cracking down on their seedier inhabitants.
Council spokesperson Saida Ahyad says: “Opportunities should be available to entrepreneurs to make money legitimately and in a pleasant environment.” No details will be officially unveiled until June, but there is currently much buzz about the prospect of boutiques, art galleries, hotels, and European (as opposed to Amsterdam- style) coffee shops. In February, CODE Gallery Store, a spin-off from the achingly hip fashion magazine, opened on one corner of Oude zijdesachterburgwal, daringly flaunting international and local designers, books and art prints.
 Although the red light district is a huge revenue-earner for the liberal city, Amsterdam, believes that a spruced-up, more manageable version will pay dividends further down the line, dovetailing with other large-scale investments in public spaces, existing property and new projects. Some city council members are less diplomatic in their assessment of the situation. Lodewijk Asscher says: “We know that the tourists that come here now, the rowdy Brits, aren’t always the tourists that you’d like to have in the city. I’m convinced that in time, it will become precisely a more desirable destination because of the combination of window prostitution but without criminality, and with all these extra attractions.”
Amsterdam began auditing real estate and closing some brothels and sex clubs in 2003 – alarmed about the rise in women trafficking and money-laundering – and the council has since been cosying up to banks, developers, institutional investors and entrepreneurs while turning “1012” from a postcode to a slogan. Last September, public housing body Stadsgoed bought 18 brothels – accounting for 51 “windows” – from developer Geerts for an estimated €25m as part of a slick rezoning manoeuvre. Stadsgoed has invested in around 80 buildings so far, while another property company, Zeedijk has invested in several properties in order to gentrify the area around the street of the same name.
The RLFA project is a collaboration between the city council, Stadsgoed and fashion consultancy HTNK.
Mariette Hoitink, managing director HTNK, says: “Amsterdam has a great number of top fashion designers, but lacks sufficient space for exposition. This project gives these designers the opportunity to bundle their powers in order to increase visibility and collaboration nationally and internationally.”
 Amsterdam’s Mayor Job Cohen insists that the city is not planning to eliminate prostitution entirely from the red light district, but rather to reduce crime and the concentration of prostitution-related activities there. A number of the bigger proprietors have already received licences under the new regulations. The mayor concedes however that this could well be a pivotal year in the district’s long and colourful history.
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